Lilly's Train Ride
by RavenBlackwing
Summary: A Trip on the Hogwarts Express as experienced by Lilly Evans in her fifth year.


"Bye Mummy, Bye Daddy, I love you!" Lily squeezed her parents goodbye and turned to her sister.

Petunia was pretending to be very interested in people watching.

"Bye Petunia." Lily said apprehensively, but her sister just ignored her. Lily rolled her eyes, she was used to Petunia's antics by now, but that didn't make them any less ridiculous. She was her sister after all, and before Hogwarts they had gotten along reasonably well. It still kind of hurt when Petunia wouldn't talk to her like this. Lily supposed she should be grateful that her sister came to see her off at all. "I'll write." She said checking her watch. She had better get through the barrier soon.

"Goodbye Lily dear!" called her mother as she wheeled her cart away.

"We'll miss you!" said her father beaming as she turned for a last look and a wave.

On platform nine and three-quarters Lily nearly tripped over a smokey gray cat as she made her way towards the scarlet engine. She recognized immediately, the cat, now hissing furiously on being tripped over.

"Oh, hullo Exeter." She said heaving her trunk back onto its cart. It had fallen off when she tripped and Lily dearly hoped that her new scales and vials weren't broken.

"Lily! Oh Lily! Grab Exeter will you? He doesn't want to stay in his basket." It was Iris Lewiget Lily's best friend. She scooped up her friend's cat and placed it in the basket Iris held out for him. Then hugged her.

"Iris, its been ages!"

"I know, oh I have so much to tell you. Did you have a good summer? You wouldn't believe all the things I saw in France."

"You have to tell me everything, I had such a boring summer. I might as well enjoy the holiday vicariously through you. Let's hurry and get a compartment before the train fills up." Lily heaved her trunk towards the train when Iris pointed and shouted.

"Look, there's Raven and her sisters. Oi Raven dahling! Over here!"

Raven looked up and smiled, she said something to her sisters and wheeled her cart towards them. Lily wondered what Raven's summer holiday must've been like. It was the first summer she and her sisters had spent without their parents, who had died the previous year. When she got close enough Raven abandoned her cart and ran to embrace her friends.

"Lily! How are you? Iris! How was France? I want to know all about your summers. Come on, let's get a good compartment to ourselves so we can talk."

Lily, Iris, and Raven were just settling down, very pleased with themselves for having secured the spacious rear compartment at the very back of the Hogwarts 

Express, when the head of Sirius Black poked around the doorway.

"Sorry girls, but there's no room anywhere else. It looks like the four of us will have to scoot in with you beauties."

Lily had the distinct impression that he was not sorry at all as he levitated his, Peter's, Remus', and James' trunks onto the racks. _Show off! Lily thought. It was so like him not to miss an opportunity to display his talent. But then she caught sight of Remus Lupin and her feelings softened. Poor Remus was looking the worse for the wear, and Lily realized that perhaps Sirius had an ulterior motive in moving his friend's trunks for them. _

"Seven of us" he mused counting heads. "It's a good job you and Lily are so skinny, James. If you both budge up real close, you only take one seat!" He had to duck suddenly as James' fist swung out at him.

"Please boys no fighting." Drawled Iris as she stroked her cat luxuriantly. Iris always managed to look so imperial. "this is only the train ride, the term hasn't even started yet."

"She has a point you know. You don't want to miss the sorting again because you have detention," warned Remus, rubbing his eyes wearily. Sirius flung an arm about his shoulders.

"Too true my friend, but that was worth it." He closed his eyes an expression of pure ecstasy on his face. "Just seeing Snape's drawers fly out the window, and then fly amiably alongside the train… and the look on his face." Sirius trailed off apparently lost in his own nostalgia.

James was trying hard not to laugh.

"I think that was our best accomplishment yet. The school still hasn't forgotten that one, and we didn't even get points taken from Gryffindor because it happened before the actual start of the term!"

"Really James! Don't go thinking that was something to be proud of!" Lilly huffed. "I don't know why you can't just leave poor Severus alone."

"Leave Snivellus alone? Why ever would we want to do that?!" Sirius cried.

"Because there's four of you and only one of him. Has he really done anything to deserve the way you all treat him?"

The four boys exchanged dark looks that did not escape the others in the compartment.

"Its not our fault the slimeball hasn't got any real friends. If he just bathed once in a while…" Sirius started, but Lilly was pointedly ignoring him.

"Please," Raven spoke from her seat by the window. "It's the beginning of the year, can we please not fight until after classes start?"

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**That's all for now, I've had a bunch of stuff sitting on my hard drive, I figured I'd just post it and add to it as I go. As soon as I figure out where its going to go, I just haven't thought enough about exactly where Lilly is at this point. I hope you enjoyed the little window into her life. Let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions. Thankyou.


End file.
